May 2010

Campus recreation — not just for students

UNCG has one of the best gym memberships around. And it's about to get even better.

Campus Recreation welcomes UNCG alumni and has made it easier to use the Student Recreation Center than ever before. To join the rec center, you must provide your graduation date. Those who have attended UNCG but did not graduate are not able to purchase an alumni membership.

Then you fill out a membership enrollment form and pay the annual $260 fee (which comes out to be less than $22 a month). The fee can be paid quarterly ($65) or semi-annually ($130) or in full.

That's it. Then you have access to the indoor pool, rock climbing wall, cardio machines, weight room and group exercise classes.

Right now, UNCG is planning a new indoor recreation facility and is working with a group of architectural planners, with an eye toward completing the planning process by the end of the summer. A renovation of the current facility is also included in the planning.

The reason for a new facility is simple — with increased student enrollment, demand on the Student Recreation Center has increased as well. More space is needed. If UNCG meets its projected enrollment of 24,000 by 2017, the university will need an additional 150,000 square feet of indoor recreation space and an additional 16 acres of field space, according to a needs assessment done last year.

When the Student Recreation Center opened in 1992, it was one of the first stand-alone recreation centers within the UNC system. Since then, student enrollment has increased 40 percent and UNCG now has the least amount of recreation space per student compared to its sister institutions.

While a site location hasn't been selected and the amount student fees may increase is unknown, UNCG hopes to have those kinds of details resolved by the fall semester.

To learn more about the planning process, visit campusrec.uncg.edu.